An investigation into errors in writing english paragraphs made by 6th grade students at a junior secondary school in nam dinh city

Based on the results of the study, implications and recommendations are proposed to improve the teaching and learning of English paragraph writing at the local school as well as at othe

HANOI UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

AN INVESTIGATION INTO ERRORS IN WRITING ENGLISH PARAGRAPHS MADE BY 6 TH GRADE STUDENTS

AT A JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL IN NAM DINH CITY

(Nghiên cứu các lỗi khi viết đoạn văn Tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 6 tại một trường Trung học cơ sở ở thành phố Nam Định)

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER’S DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDIES

Student: Vũ Thị Thúy Hồng Supervisor: Dr TrầnThị Duyên

Hanoi – 2019

HANOI UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

AN INVESTIGATION INTO ERRORS IN WRITING ENGLISH PARAGRAPHS MADE BY 6 TH GRADE STUDENTS

AT A JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL IN NAM DINH CITY

(Nghiên cứu các lỗi khi viết đoạn văn Tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 6 tại một trường Trung học cơ sở ở thành phố Nam Định)

Major: English Studies Code: 8220201

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER’S DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDIES

Student: Vũ Thị Thúy Hồng Supervisor: Dr Trần Thị Duyên

Hanoi –2019

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other

tertiary institution

Hanoi, 2019

Vu Thi Thuy Hong

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The thesis could not have been completed without the considerable help and support from a number of people

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Tran Thi Duyen,

my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher

My profound thanks go to all of my teachers from the Post-Graduate Department at Hanoi University, who have been given expert guidance and favorable conditions for the completion of the work

I am deeply thankful to five English teachers and 180 students at a lower secondary school Thanks to their help, the thesis would not have succeeded

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my beloved family and friends for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

Hanoi, 2019

Vu Thi Thuy Hong

iii

ABSTRACT

The present study investigates errors made by the 6th-grade students at a junior secondary school in Nam Dinh City and examines the teachers’ opinions on the students’ errors and their treatment of the errors The study employs qualitative design and uses document analysis and interview as the data collection instruments In particular, document analysis was carried out on 180 pieces of paragraph writing written by 6th-grade students and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five teachers who teach writing skills for the 6th-grade students

Findings pointed out 8 types of writing errors commonly made by the students

including plurality, article, spelling, punctuation, verb, and preposition at the word level and subject-verb agreement and fragment at the sentential level The findings also reveal that the teachers can realize students’ errors related to verb, spelling, preposition, subject-verb agreement, linking words, sentence structure, word order, and word choice However, some of other common writing errors such as plurality, articles, punctuation, and fragment do not seem

to be well perceived by the teachers and their common ways to treat the students’ errors are via

direct feedback, indirect feedback, focused feedback and unfocused feedback Based on the

results of the study, implications and recommendations are proposed to improve the teaching and learning of English paragraph writing at the local school as well as at other junior secondary schools with similar educational contexts

English as a Foreign Language

English Language Teaching: the teaching of English to speakers of other languages English as a Second Language

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE

Figure 2.1: Runkati’s categories of errors………

Figure 2.2: Corder’s steps in error analysis research………

Table 2.3: Description of common writing errors………

Table 3.2: Justification for Interview Items………

Table 4.1: The most common writing errors committed students at 6th grade………

TABLE CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iiv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE v

TABLE CONTENTS vi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Statement of the problem 2

1.3 Objectives of the study and research questions 3

1.4 Significance of the study 4

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Organization of the study 4

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Theory of writing and paragraph writing 6

2.1.1 Definition of writing 6

2.1.2 Genres of writing 6

2.1.3 Paragraph writing 7

2.1.4 Elements of an effective paragraph 7

2.2 Teaching paragraph writing 10

2.3 Error analysis 11

2.3.1 Defining errors 11

2.3.2 Errors in Second Language Learning 12

2.3.3 Definition of Error Analysis 13

2.3.4 Classification of Errors 14

2.3.5 The procedure of error analysis 15

2.3.6 Sources of errors 16

2.3.7 Common writing errors 19

2.4 Error Treatment 20

2.4.1 Definition of Error Treatment 20

2.4.2 Strategies of corrective feedback 21

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2.5 Previous studies 23

2.5.1 Studies in international contexts 23

2.5.2 Studies in Vietnamese contexts 25

2.6 Gaps in previous studies of the study 26

2.7 Chapter summary 27

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 28

3.1 Research design 28

3.2 Participants 29

3.3 Research context 29

3.4 Research instruments 30

3.4.1 Document analysis 30

3.4.2 Semi-structured interview 30

3.5 Data collection procedure 32

3.6 Data analysis procedure 33

3.6.1 Analysis of students’ writings 33

3.6.2 Semi-structured interview 35

3.7 Ethical considerations 35

3.8 Chapter summary 36

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 37

4.1 Data analysis 37

4.1.1 Results from the analysis of the students’ writings 37

4.1.1.1 Plurality 37

4.1.1.2 Article 39

4.1.1.3 Spelling 40

4.1.1.4 Punctuation 41

4.1.1.5 Verb 42

4.1.1.6 Preposition 43

4.1.1.7 Subject-Verb Agreement 44

4.1.1.8 Fragment 45

4.1.2 Results from the interviews with teachers 46

4.1.2.1 The average time to teach writing 47

4.1.2.2 Methods in teaching writing 48

4.1.2.3 Teachers' opinions on students' writing errors 49

4.1.2.4 Teachers opinions on possible sources of students'errors 50

4.1.2.5 Treatment of the students' writing errors 51

4.2 Discussion of the research results 49

4.3 Chapter summary 58

CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 59

5.1 Summary of the study 59

5.2 Implications for teachers and syllabus designers 59

5.2.1 Implications for teachers 59

5.2.2 Implications for syllabus designers 61

5.3 Limitations of the study 61

5.4 Suggestions for further studies 62

5.5 Conclusion 63

REFERENCES 64

APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL FOR TEACHERS 68

APPENDIX 2: A SAMPLE OF TEACHERS' INTERVIEWS 70

APPENDIX 2: A SAMPLE OF TEACHERS' INTERVIEWS 72

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

In the first chapter, the background, objectives, and significance of the study are described As well, the statement of the problem is explained and two major research questions are presented

1.1 Background of the study

In Viet Nam, English is learnt as a foreign language Foreign language is defined in the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (Richards & Schmidt, 2002) as a language that is not a native language in a country A foreign language is usually studied either for communication with foreigners who speak the language or for reading printed materials in the language Learning a different language is sometimes difficult since the target language has different elements compared to the native language These differences sometimes cause the students to make errors while using it

Among the four English skills, writing seems to be the most complex, but it is a crucial skill for students to learn Students who have the ability and competency in writing English will be able to express themselves effectively Moreover, they will have more privilege when applying for jobs compared to other students especially in private sectors and companies doing international business However, writing is a complex process which demands cognitive analysis and linguistic synthesis It is even harder to learn to write in a foreign language, and it takes considerable time and effort

Errors in learners’ language performance including writing process have long become the subject of interest among teachers, linguists, and syllabus planners Brown (1980) argues that making errors in learning a foreign language is unavoidable Errors are natural for second or foreign learners of English language The linguists particularly are finding reasonable explanations for the occurrence of errors and their implication towards the learning and teaching of a language In line with those studies,

this study aims to explore common errors in the 6th-grade students’ paragraph writings and their teachers’ perspectives on the students’ errors and the way the teachers treat the errors at a junior secondary school in Nam Dinh City

1.2 Statement of the problem

Writing in English has been perceived as the most difficult skill among the four skills of English (Hengwichitkul, 2009; Watcharapunyawong& Usaha, 2013; Rattanadilok Na Phuket & Othman, 2015) Even a native speaker fails to write a good piece of writing (Kukurs, 2012) It is, consequently, a very hard task for EFL learners, and it is unavoidable for EFL learners to commit writing errors since they have a limited chance to write in English

A number of research studies, as a result, have been conducted both to find out the causes of writing problems and to help EFL learners overcome difficulties in their writing For instance, some studies investigate the errors in learners’various types of writing, including sentences, paragraphs, essays, and abstracts, and categorize those errors, so they can be fully addressed (Huang, 2006; Hengwichitkul, 2006; Jenwitheesuk, 2009; Bumroongthai, 2011; Lui, 2013; Runkati, 2013; Zheng& Park, 2013; Rattanadilok Na Phuket & Othman, 2015) Other studies attempt to examine sources of errors since knowing the sources that lead to learners’ making of the errors is

an effective way to help reduce errors (Penny, 2001; Bennui, 2008; Heydari&Bagheri, 2012; Watcharapunyawong& Usaha, 2013; Hinnon, 2014)

It has been pointed out that errors made by learners are beneficial to teachers, learners, as well as researchers (Corder, 1967; James, 1998) For teachers, errors are evidence of learners’ progress in language learning Teachers can refer to it in order to help improve learners’ writing skills For learners, errors can be served as resources for their language learning Lastly, errors provide evidence to researchers on how learners learn and acquire the language

The analysis of errors in learners’ writing can be very helpful for their learning, Corder (1967), James (1998), Nonkokhetkong (2013), Hinnon (2014), and Rattanadilok

Na Phuket and Othman (2015) assert that Presada and Badea (2014), for example, analyzed the causes of errors made by students in their translation classes and asserted that this method could help them sort out the real problems and lessen the number of errors in their students’ work Similarly, Zafar (2016) also states that error analysis is

an effective tool to improve her business students’ writing ability after a two-month remedial writing course

In Vietnam, a number of studies have also been done on analyzing errors in writing such as Tran (2015), Nguyen (2011), and Pham & Pham (2015) However, most studies focus on students at high school or university No research has been done by focusing on the errors of students studying at secondary schools (especially 6th-grade students in Nam Dinh City) while paragraph writing actually begins from the 6th grade The lack of research on the common mistakes of 6th-grade students when writing an English paragraph and how teachers treat students’ errors sets a gap for researchers' current research Therefore, aiming to contribute to bridge the gap, the present study is conducted to obtain an overview of errors made by the 6th-grade students and the teachers’ opinions on the students’ errors and their treatment of the errors

1.3 Objectives of the study and research questions

This study investigates the most common errors committed by the 6th-grade students while writing paragraphs in English and explore the teachers’ perspectives on their students’ writing errors and their treatment of the errors

The study aims to answer the following research questions:

Q1 What are the most common writing errors made by the 6 th Grade Students when writing English paragraphs?

Q2 What are the teachers’ opinions on the students’ writing errors and how do they treat the errors?

1.4 Significance of the study

This study is significant in the sense that the results of the study on the common errors committed by the 6th- grade students and the teachers’ perspectives can help the teachers improve the effectiveness of their teaching at the local school The results can also be used as references for teachers at other schools with similar educational contexts and researchers in the field in their search for ways to improve the quality of the teaching and learning of English at the school level in Vietnam

1.5 Scope of the study

The research was conducted at a junior secondary school in Nam Dinh City and focused on the most common errors made by 6th-grade students when writing paragraphs in English and their teacher's’ perspectives on the errors and their error treatment In addition, the research centered on errors at word and sentence levels and not at paragraph level

1.6 Organization of the study

The thesis consisted of five chapters, namely Introduction, Literature Review, Research Methodology, Analysis and Findings; and Discussion, Implications, and Conclusion

Chapter I (Introduction) introduces the background to the study, the objectives, the research questions, the research questions, the significance, the scope and the organization of the study

Chapter II (Literature Review) deals with the concepts relevant to the research about general writing, paragraph writing and the process of writing and teaching writing Moreover, the chapter discusses error analysis, sources of errors, error treatment as well as previous studies in the world and in Vietnam

Chapter III (Methodology) presents information about research design, research context, participants, research instruments, data collection procedure, and data analysis procedure

Chapter IV (Analysis and Findings) analyzes the results obtained through the document analysis and semi-structured interviews

Chapter V (Discussion, Implications, and Conclusion) discusses the findings for two research questions and establishes the connection between the results of the current research and the previous literature It also presents a summary of the study, reveals the limitations of the study and propose suggestions for future research and concludes the study

References and Appendixes are presented in the last pages of the study

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews theoretical issues related to the study such as general writing, paragraph writing, writing process, teaching writing, error analysis, sources of writing errors and error treatment Previous studies on the research topic are also considered to identify the gap in the literature that this study contributes to the bridge

2.1 Theory of writing and paragraph writing

2.1.1 Definition of writing

There are a wide variety of definitions of writing by many scholars and researchers According to Langan (2008), writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols which is known as a writing system Byrne (1991) defines that writing is a sequence of sentences arranged in a particular order and link together in a certain way He regards the priority of writing as a consequence of sentences order Interestingly, Berthof (1981) defines writing is as an act of the mind which writers create meaning It means that writing is the creating of meaning from one’s own intellectual and linguistic resources and activity, rather than the copying of someone’s text, or the use of prepared lists of words to create sentence or stories In this study, writing is defined as the way to express as well as represent the writer’s idea or knowledge in a textual medium by following the linguistic rules

2.1.2 Genres of writing

Traditionally, there are four popular kinds of writing namely expository writing, persuasive writing, narrative writing, descriptive writing Each genre of writing is described in detail in the followings:

First of all, expository writing, which is the most common types of writing skills, firmly concentrates on advising or explaining things It often presents facts and figures about a particular topic or a subject and it is likewise to be in logical order and

sequence For instance, textbook writing is a form of expository writing, where the author intended to clarify the subject by giving a short introduction at the beginning of the pertinent topic After that, it gradually focuses on the paragraph with accurate facts and figures

Secondly, persuasive writing, opposite to the expository writing, glares opinion, justification, explanation, a point of view The purpose of this type of writing is to convince the reader or to furnish some of the author’s thoughts to the readers Editorial page and complaint letter are one of the typical examples of this type of writing

Thirdly, the narrative writing style is simply telling stories to readers (in which stories can be true or fiction) This writing style also uses creative writing - using imagination and creativity, instead of handling facts and figures The writer or author will create at least one distinct character, and frames dialogue, events, actions, emotions Novels, short stories, and poetry are examples of narrative writing genre

Lastly, descriptive writing often describes more than other styles Therefore, the main purpose of this form is a description Simply, it focuses on describing a detailed character, event, or location In this form, a writer or an author visualizes what he feels, what he sees, from which to describe them

From the classification of the genres of writing, this thesis pays attention to the error analysis of descriptive writing The reason is that description is the genre mainly studied by 6th graders Topics which students often describe are people, houses, classes, subjects or animals

2.1.3 Paragraph writing

The definition and meaning of paragraph writing largely depend on the content

of the writing, the writing materials, the writer's attitudes, the writer’s experience, and the tactics of the writer Each expert, however, has made a great effort to define it in his/her own way of observation and thought Owl (2009) clarified a paragraph as a

group of closely-related sentences which deal with and develop one idea According to him, it is like a family in which all members are related; likewise, all sentences in the paragraph are related Almost every piece of writing that is longer than a few sentences should be organized into the paragraph Jayakaran (2005) argues that the basic unit of any writing, be it a composition, an essay, an article of general nature, a short story or even a humor piece, is the paragraph O’Donnell and Paiva (1993) provide more details about the essential parts for paragraph writing which include a topic sentence, supporting sentences, details, logical order, logical connectors, a concluding sentence, unity, and coherence By drawing on the concept of paragraph writing, Baker (1992) describes paragraph as a collection of connected sentences which show building blocks

of solid ideas that are organized smoothly around one single idea in the paragraph

In view of all the definitions mentioned so far, a paragraph in the scope of the research are recognized as a short part of a text, consisting of more than one sentences that are logically linked by a topic It often includes a topic sentence, a supporting sentence, and a concluding sentence It begins with a capital letter and ends with a dot

2.1.4 Elements of an effective paragraph

Ideas within a paragraph should flow something from one to the next and subordinate ideas should be related to the main idea presented in the topic sentence Based on Betty mattix Dietsch book, an effective paragraph have five distinctive features: Clarity, Interest, Unity, Coherence and Completeness ( New York: McGrawHill, 2003)

Clarity is state of being in agreement and working together Betty Mattix Dietsch stated in his book, “Clarity is the end result of knowing your purpose, correctly assessing the audience, connecting ideas, selecting appropriate words

Coherence: “Coherence is essentially a technique of connecting ideas smoothing and logically in written communication In coherent piece of writing, writing leads his reader clearly and logically from one idea to another in his developing thought He weaves his ideas so skillfully together that the reader can see quickly the relationship of one idea to another and to central thought (thesis) of the whole The writer assumes that coherence is making sure that the sentences are still in the same topic Moreover, the reader will not confuse when he or she read it

Completeness: to make the reader really enjoy the story of the paragraphs, the writer should make the paragraph easy and under stable Furthermore, the whole of the paragraph can be understood easily and being completed Important influences on clarity are the level of paragraphs and positions of emphasis

Interest: Writer should choose the good topic to be read An interest title or topics can the reader eager to know the whole of paragraphs Try to make interest sentences

So, the reader will eager to continue their reading The readers like to be entertained Then, the way to catch readers’ attention of the paragraph is choosing the good title of the passage

Unity: To write effective paragraphs, try to focus the one major idea All of the supporting idea should have the correlation to the main idea Canavan (1975) stated in his book, “A main idea, state or implied by writer, is the unifying point around which the supporting sentences of a paragraph revolve A good topic sentence usually expresses a single main idea It tells the reader what the paragraph about It develops a new but related idea of the central thought (thesis) for the whole paper It may also indicate the kind of development that will follow

In the scope of the study, the participants are 6th-grade students who are beginners of writing and the writing topics in lessons are rather simple Thus, those above factors will be focused more in the next grades by teachers

2.2 Teaching paragraph writing

Teaching writing is an activity to encourage students to write Meyers (2005) states that writing is a way to produce language you do naturally when you speak It means that writing is a process of delivering ideas through written text or translating what is on the mind through written language In order for students can make good writing, they should formulate their own thoughts, organize them, and create a written record of them using the conventions of spelling and grammar

In the school setting, Keys (2000) states that writing paragraph includes two distinct but complementary roles First, it is a skill that draws on the use of strategies (such as planning, evaluating and revising text) to accomplish to a variety of goals, such

as writing a report or expressing an opinion with the support of evidence Second, paragraph writing is a means of extending and deepening student’s knowledge; it acts as

a tool for learning subject matter’ Writing enables the students to express their ideas which are supported by evidence and conventions in order to make good pieces of writing (Graham& Harris, 2005) According to Meyers (2005), teaching paragraph writing skill can be difficult for any teacher, since every student has his/her own learning approach Some students will learn quickly, while others will need some encouragement and more attention to ensure they understand what they are being taught

The teachers’ understanding of what learning is will determine his or her understanding of what teaching is She can begin teaching by involving students in what type of activities are interesting to the students By choosing a topic that involves the students, the teacher provides a context within which effective learning on the target

area can be undertaken ( Brown, 2001) Giving revision and corrective feedback is the effective ways to build the reader oriented awareness and at the same time, it is also the ways to handle the big classes

According to Richard (2002), the process of teaching paragraph writing consists

of four stages that are planning, drafting, editing and final version In the first place of planning, Richards (2002) states that writers plan what they are going to write Before starting to write or type, they try and decide what it is they are going to say For some writers, this may involve making detailed notes, for others a few jotted words may be enough Moreover, others may not actually write down any preliminary notes at all since they may do all their planning in their heads But they will have planned, nevertheless, just as the shopping list writer has thought-at some level consciousness-about what food is needed before writing it on the piece of paper Next, the first version

of a piece of writing is referred to as a draft This first 'go ' at a text is often done on the assumption that it will be amended later As the writing process proceeds into editing; a number of drafts may be produced on the way to the final version Then, editing involves looking at each sentence carefully and making sure that it’s well designed and serves its purpose Once writers have edited their draft, making the changes they consider to be necessary, they produce their final version This may look considerably different from both the original plan and the first draft because things have changed in the editing process But the writer is now ready to send the written text to its intended audience

The theories relating to teaching writing paragraph assist the researcher to make interview questions for teachers, particularly the methods to teach writing for students at grade 6 In addition, this supports her to write insightful pedagogical implication for the research

2.3 Error analysis

2.3.1 Defining errors

There are several definitions of errors in writing Herry (1991) suggested an error is a form of language or a combination of forms in the same context and in similar production conditions, in which the exact components cannot be created Lennon (1991) related errors to native-speaker-utterances, although there are various variations among people who consider themselves to be a native speaker, which makes it difficult

to find a standard Unlike Lennon, James (1998) judged an error according to grammatical correctness and acceptance He relates errors to ignorance, inferring that error analysis is the study of linguistic ignorance, the investigation of what people do not know and how they attempt to cope with their ignorance

2.3.2 Errors in Second Language Learning

Errors happen to be the very common part of Second Language Learning (L2) However, in order to become an effective learner or teacher of the L2, it is significant to develop the awareness that errors hold a positive aspect of learning

First of all, it is essential to explain what an error means According to the Cambridge Dictionary, error is “a mistake, especially one that can cause problems” On the other hand, Littlewood (2006) describes errors as not the ones that are causing problems or are considered failures in L2, but he presents them as tools for identifying the learners’ development in L2, and the ways the learners process the knowledge of a target language This contemporary viewpoint was established around 1960s Formerly, people had believed that errors were intolerable parts of L2 as they were preventing the learner from producing the correct version of a language Another definition of the subject would say that errors “happen when learners try to say something that is beyond their current level of language processing.” What is more, in this case, learners are unable to correct themselves because they are unaware of their inaccuracies

Secondly, errors are divided into two subcategories: errors in production – errors that appear while performing the tasks concerning productive skills (speaking, writing) and errors in comprehension – errors that appear while performing the tasks concerning receptive skills (listening, reading)

To summarise, errors may have a positive impact on one’s Second Language Learning

as long as they are not fossilised It is also important to become aware that errors are not the failures in L2, but, if used aright, they cause a positive effect on the process of self-correction, acknowledging the rules of language, and they can become helpful in L2 research

2.3.3 Definition of Error Analysis

Over the past decades, error analysis has received a great deal of interest of scholars in the field of second language acquisition Corder (1997) who has been considered the father of error analysis contends that those errors are “important in and

of themselves" Hence, it can be said that errors made by language learners make it possible to determine areas that need reinforcement in teaching Moreover, he also points out that error analysis has two objectives: one is a theoretical objective which concerns what and how learners learn a language; and the other is the practical one which concerns how to help learners learn a language by making use of the knowledge they have already had Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982) state that the analysis of errors

is the method to analyze errors made by EFL and ESL learners when they learn a language Not only can it help reveal the strategies used by learners to learn a language, but it also assists teachers as well as other concerning people to know what difficulties learners encounter in order to improve their teaching James (1998) proposes that error analysis is the analysis of learners’ errors by comparing what the learners have learned with what they lack It also deals with giving an explanation of the errors in order to

accurately reduce them Another definition of error analysis given by Crystal (1999) is the study of language learners’ language forms which deviate from those of the target

language

2.3.4 Classification of Errors

Errors found in ESL and EFL learners’ pieces of writing are analyzed and categorized into various categories According to Corder (1974), errors are divided into

four categories namely omission (some necessary part of words, morphemes, or

auxiliaries may be left out by the learner because of his ignorance as to how to produce

correct words), addition (the adding of some unnecessary or redundant parts of words), selection (misformation or choosing wrong word forms), and misordering (an incorrect

order of words in a sentence) In another study by Hengwichitkul (2006), errors were analyzed at the sentential level All of the errors were classified such as subject-verb agreement, tenses, parts of speech, participial phrases, relative clauses, passive voice, parallel structure, punctuation, run-ons, and fragments In 1982, Dulay, Burt, and Krashen indicate that writing errors can be classified into four categories namely linguistic category taxonomy, surface strategy taxonomy, comparative taxonomy, and communicative effect

Interesting, Runkati (2013) categorized the errors found into two main types These include errors at the sentential level and errors at the word level The former type dealt with errors at the sentential level which were fragments, run-ons, subject-verb agreement, word order, tenses, capital letters, and punctuation The latter one was errors

at the word level, such as articles, prepositions, word choices, and nouns (see Figure 2.1)

In the present study, the researcher adapted Runkati’s model (2013) of classifying errors following the sentential level and the word level The reason is this model is consistent with the academic level of the research subject (6th-grade students), research methods, and research instrument of this thesis

2.3.5 The procedure of error analysis

In order to analyze students’ errors, Corder (1974) proposes the following five stages model of error analysis proceeding: (1) collection of a sample of learner language; (2) identification of errors; (3) description of errors; (4) explanation of errors; (5) evaluation of errors In terms of collection of a sample of learner language, the starting point in error analysis is deciding what samples of learner language to use for the analysis and how to collect these samples A massive sample involves collecting several samples of language use from a large number of learners in order to compile a comprehensive list of errors, representative of the entire population A specific sample consists of one sample of language use collected from a limited number of learners Regarding the identification of errors, the question arises whether the error is overt or covert an overt error is easy to identify because there is a clear deviation in form A covert error occurs in utterances that are superficially wellformed but do not mean what

the learner intended them to mean When it comes to the description of errors, it is to identify general ways in which the learner's utterances differ from target-language utterances errors proposed four major categories such as omission, addition, misinformation and misordering Referring to the explanation of errors, the explanation

is concerned with establishing the source of the error This stage is the most important for SLA research as it involves an attempt to establish the processes which are responsible for L2 acquisition With regarding evaluation of errors, the purpose of evaluation of errors to help learners to learn an L2 This error proceeding was shown in Figure 2.2

Figure 2.2: Corder’s steps in error analysis research (Corder, 1974)

In this study, the writer adapted Corder’s steps in error analysis into 4 stages including (1) collection of learners’ writing paragraphs, (2) identification of errors, (3) classification of errors and (4) description of errors

2.3.6 Sources of errors

Norrish (1983) classifies causes of error into three types that are carelessness, first language interference and translation Carelessness is often closely related to lack of motivation Many teachers admit that it is not always the

student’s fault if he loses interest, perhaps the materials or style of presentation do not suit him First language interference is a matter of habit formation When someone tries to learn new habits, the old ones will interfere with the new ones This cause of the error is called first language interference Translation happens when a student translates his first language sentence or idiomatic expression into the target one

Dulay and Burt (1974) deal with problems of errors from a psychological point

of view and suggested four types of errors The first error is interference This error

reflects native (learner’s mother tongue) language structure and is not found in the first

language (English) acquisition data The second error is first language development It

does not reflect (learner’s) native language structure but is found in the first language

(English) acquisition data The next error is ambiguous error This error can be

considered as either interference like errors or first language developmental errors.The

last error is unique error It does not reflect first language structure and also is not found

in first language acquisition data of target language

Khansir (2008) argues that the sources of errors have been grouped into two types from different points of view The first type of sources of errors is the result of interference of the first language (mother tongue) This view has been developed by Contrastive Analysis in 1960 The second part of the sources of errors has been mentioned by Error Analysis has been known as a reaction to contrastive analysis According to error analysis, interference of the first language is only one reason for the source of errors “Another reason for learners’ errors is due to what Richards (1971) mentions: Ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules, false concepts hypothesized, developmental errors and overgeneralization” (Khansir, 2008)

Brown (2000) noted that there are four main sources of errors Those include interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, context of learning and communication strategies

Interlingual transfer

Interlingual transfer is a significant source of error for all learners The beginning stage of learning a second language is especially vulnerable to interlingual transfer from the native language or interference Interlingual transfer can be called mother tongue interference It has a great deal in learning the target language directly It

is a common error that students translate the L1 into L2

Intralingual transfer

One of the major contributions of learner language research has been its recognition of sources of error that extend beyond an interlingual error in learning a second language It is known that intralingual transfer (within the target language itself)

is a major factor in second language learning Besides, overgeneralization is also the source of error It can be called a negative intralingual transfer Intralingual errors are further subdivided into some kinds (Richards, 1992) To be more specific, they are

interference (an error resulting from the transfer of grammatical and stylistic

elements from the source language to the target language), overgeneralization (an error caused by the extension of target language rules to areas where they do not

apply), performance error (an unsystematic error that occurs as the result of such

thing as memory lapses, fatigue, confusion, or strong emotion), markers of

transitional competence (an error that results from a natural and perhaps inevitable

development sequence in the second language learning process), strategy of

communication and assimilation (an error resulting from the attempt to

communicate in the target language without having completely acquired the

grammatical form), and teacher-induced error (an error resulting from pedagogical

procedures contained in the text or employed by the teacher)

Context of Learning

One of the major sources of errors is the context of learning “Context” refers

to the classroom with its teacher and its material in the case of school learning or the social situation in second language learning In a classroom context, the teacher or textbook can lead the learner to make faculty hypothesis about the language, what Richard (1971) called “false concepts” Most students often make errors because of misleading explanation from the teacher, faculty presentation of a structure of a word in

a textbook, or even because of a pattern that was rarely memorized in a drill but

improperly contextualized

Communication Strategies

Communication strategies are one of the major sources of errors in learning styles Learners obviously use production strategies in order to enhance getting their message across, but at times these techniques can themselves become a source of error

2.3.6 Common writing errors

There have been several studies which present a variety of common errors produced by learners Robinett (1972) proposes a checklist of common writing errors that consist of agreement, verbs, word division, penmanship, comparison, prepositions, capitalization, punctuation, sentence, vocabulary, content, double negative, article, format, paraphrase, nouns, spelling and word order Besides, Vann et al (1984) choose the following as universal writing errors: spelling, subject-verb, article, relative clauses, comma splice, tense, It-deletion, pronoun agreement and word order In addition, Dulay

et al (1982) show errors that commonly happen in pieces of writing as follows: omitting grammatical morphemes, double marking, regularizing rules, using archiforms and misordering

It is certain that common writing errors are classified differently by different researchers in many perspectives However, as stated in the scope of the study, errors at word and sentential levels are the main goal instead of analyzing errors of paragraph structures Thus, in order to achieve the aim of the study, the author would like to adapt Runkati’s (2013) categories of errors The major kinds of common errors in the present study were illustrated as follows:

Plurality Wrong/omitted signals of plurality after

countable or uncountable nouns and irregular nouns

ellipses Verb Gerund/infinitive/to be/normal verbs Preposition Wrong/omitted/unnecessary prepositions Subject-Verb Agreement Wrong use of agreement between subject and

verb

Table 2.3: Description of common writing errors

2.4 Error Treatment

2.4.1 Definition of Error Treatment

The term ‘error treatment’ is also considered in another term ‘feedback’ According to Chaudron (1988), feedback represents various types of classroom interactions with the most extensive scope Dulay, Burt, & Krashen, (1982) term

‘feedback’ as the listener’s or reader’s responses provided to the learner’s spoken or

written production Besides, Keh (1990) defines ‘feedback’ “as input from a reader to a writer with the effect of providing information to the writer for revision” Wajnryb (1992) recognizes ‘feedback’ more specifically as the teacher’s responses which were given to what learners produce in the classroom

2.4.2 Strategies of corrective feedback

Ellis (1997) presents a typology of written corrective feedback types consisting

of 5 basic strategies namely direct feedback, indirect correct feedback, metalinguistic correct feedback, the focus of the feedback, electronic feedback

Direct feedback: The teacher provides the student with the correct form As

Ferris (2001) notes, this can take a number of different forms—crossing out an unnecessary word, phrase, or morpheme, inserting a missing word or morpheme and writing the correct form above or near to the erroneous form Direct corrective feedback has the advantage that it provides learners with explicit guidance about how to correct their errors This is clearly desirable if learners do not know what the correct form is

Indirect corrective feedback: It involves indicating that the student has made an

error without actually correcting it There are two ways to give this kind of feedback The first way is indicating and locating the error, which takes the form of underlining and use of cursors to show omissions in the student’s text and the second way is an indication only, which takes the form of an indication in the margin that an error or errors have taken place in a line of text

Metalinguistic correct feedback: This involves providing learners with some

form of explicit comment about the nature of the errors they have made The explicit comment can take two forms By far the most common is the use of error codes These consist of abbreviated labels for different kinds of errors The labels can be placed over the location of the error in the text or in the margin In the latter case, the exact location

of the error may or may not be shown In the former, the student has to work out the

correction needed from the clue provided while in the latter the student needs to first locate the error and then work out the correction

The focus of the feedback: This concerns whether the teacher attempts to correct

most of the students’ errors or selects one or two specific types of errors to correct The focus of the feedback includes unfocused feedback (extensive feedback) and focus feedback (intensive feedback) Processing corrections are likely to be more difficult in unfocused correct feedback as the learner is required to attend to a variety of errors and thus is unlikely to be able to reflect much on each error In this respect, focused correct feedback may prove more effective as the learner is able to examine multiple corrections of a single error and thus obtain the rich evidence they need to both understand why what they wrote was erroneous and to acquire the correct form If learning is dependent on attention to form, then it is reasonable to assume that the more intensive the attention, the more likely the correction is to lead to learning Focused metalinguistic correct feedback may be especially helpful in this respect as it promotes not just attention but also understanding of the nature of the error

Reformulation: This consists of a native speaker’s reworking of the students’

entire text to make the message content communicated successfully while keeping the content

of the original intact as possible while keeping the content of the original intact In essence, reformulation involves two options ‘direct correction’ + ‘revision’ but it differs from how these options are typically executed in that the whole of the student’s text is reformulated thus laying the burden on the learner to identify the specific changes that have been made

Electronic feedback: The teacher indicates an error and provides a hyperlink

through the software to a concordance file that provides examples of correct usage

In this study, the ways the teachers treat the students’ errors are compared with the strategies reviewed in the literature to identify the commonly employed ones

2.5 Previous studies

During the past 30 years, the issues related to learners’ errors in writing English paragraphs have attracted the attention of researchers all over the world including Vietnam In the following section, the most relevant studies are reviewed The studies are categorized into two groups: Studies in international contexts and studies in Vietnam

2.5.1 Studies in international contexts

Al-Hassan (1989) conducted a study about the errors committed by Jordanian secondary male students in their learning of English passive constructions The participants were 30 male students selected randomly from five academic secondary government schools in the city of Irbid The hypothesis of the study was that there would be statistically significant differences among the three levels of students with respect to their errors related to simple past, simple present, past perfect and the models

of passive voice The study results revealed that there were no statistically significant differences among the three levels of students The researcher also found that the errors made by students following such as sources mother tongue interference, performance, ignorance of the grammatical rules of the target language, overgeneralization, and global and level errors

Sermsook, Liamnimitr, &Pochakorn (2017) conducted a study to examine the language errors in the writing of English major students in a Thai university and exploring the sources of the errors Results showed that the most frequently committed errors were punctuation, articles, subject-verb agreement, spelling, capitalization, and fragment, respectively Interlingual interference and intralingual interference of the students were found to be the major sources of the errors It is suggested that intensive knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary be taught to Thai EFL students Moreover, the negative transfer of students’ first language should be taken into account

in English writing classes This finding also implied that explicit feedback on students’ writing errors is genuinely needed

Hazaymeh (1996) conducted a study that aimed at investigating secondary students' errors in learning English verb tenses The participants included 587 students from public schools and 172 students from private schools Both male and female students in scientific and literary streams were involved in this study Analysis of variance was used in analyzing the data of the study Means for each variable were found in order to answer the questions of the study The researcher attributed the errors made by the students to a group of reasons such as mother lounge interference, overgeneralization, the complexity of the structures of the English verb tenses, a strategy of parallel structure and the ignorance of grammatical rules

Nayati (2010) examined the commonest error made by the students of IslamiyahSawanganDepok in paragraph writing The results of this study indicated that the type of error that made by the student on spelling is (19.52%) structure (42.01%), word choice (21.01%), and punctuation (17.04%) The highest frequency of error which has been made by the students is on the structure Besides, the facility of students learning, a method of teaching, student’s motivation in learning English were shown as the main reasons for the errors

Ferdhiyanto (2014) found that errors which occur mostly in proficient students’ writing production in PangudiLuhur junior high school were that the use of tenses (49,6%); Plurality (11,6%), preposition (11,2%), article (8,7%), and word order (7,8%) Factors to contribute to such errors were identified to be lack of awareness of grammatical accuracy and their monitoring system related to grammar errors

Salebi (2004) investigated Saudi college students’ perception of their English writing errors The participants of the study were 32 Saudi females aged 22-24 years old who were on the fourth level at the Department of Foreign Languages at King Faisal

University They had attended an error analysis course where they were taught how to identify, classify, and describe errors in English committed by second-language learners The research used two instruments: a test and students’ comments on their errors The results of this study revealed that the percentage of subject-verb agreement errors was 44.03% It also showed that the percentage of errors caused during translation from Arabic was 18.75% Further, it showed that the main reason for errors was the difficulty of the target language, which resulted in the generalization of rules

Zawaherh (2012) investigated the writing errors committed by tenth-grade students who were studying at Ajloun governorate schools-Jordan The sample of the study consisted of 350 students selected randomly from a group of schools in Ajloun They were asked to write an essay about “a journey to the ancient city of Jerash in Jordan” in an ordinary English-language exercise in the class The results of the study showed that the most dominant error among tenth-grade students in Ajloun schools was the lack of agreement between the subject and the main verb The results of the study suggested that the cause of students’ writing errors might be attributed to Arabic interference

Hawa, Sukmaningrum, &Carascalao (2016) studied the types of errors made by the second-semester students of the University of Semarang in writing paragraphs and frequency of committing those types of error The answers were that the most common error in writing a paragraph is dominated by errors of verb tense, subject, and fragment

In addition, the most common errors were dominated by verb tense (28.2%), verb agreement (21.74%), and fragment (10.62%) The errors were occurred due to the lack of students’ competence in English

subject-2.5.2 Studies in Vietnamese contexts

Tran (2015) carried out a study to investigate errors in paragraph writing of 50 first-year students at School of Foreign Languages- Thai Nguyen University This study

aimed to investigate common written grammatical errors committed by the first year English major students and the causes of the errors The findings showed errors in sentence structure, verb usage, preposition usage, and singular/plural nouns The main causes of these errors were found to include mother tongue interference, overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules and false concepts hypothesized; in which interference of native language and overgeneralization were the most common ones In order to minimize these errors, it was suggested that teachers help students practice writing and correct their writings effectively by suitable and flexible techniques

One hundred 10th-grade students and 5 teachers at Phu Cat High School in Binh Dinh Province attended a study of Nguyen (2011) with the purpose of finding out the mistakes they often make when writing English paragraphs and put forward some solutions Questionnaires for students and interviews with teachers were used to collect the data The findings of the study indicated that there were four main error types namely Morphological errors, lexical errors, syntactic errors, and mechanical errors

Pham & Pham (2015) conducted a study is to investigate the common writing errors on students’ writing journals and to see whether the extensive writing helps to enhance students’ writing fluency The study involved 115 first year English-major students who composed five writing journals every week during the course of 15 weeks Each student composed 62 writing journals in total The study found that the four most common errors frequently occur in students’ writing journals are relating to tenses, collocations, spellings, and verb forms Also, the current study confirmed that extensive writing practices affect the students’ writing fluency in terms of length of writing

2.6 Gaps in previous studies of the study

As can be seen from the previous studies, a significant amount of research has been carried out in this field However, most of the studies likely focus on the students